Rescue of 180 students of School of Forestry: Kaduna Govt. lied – Staff

Admin l Thursday, March 25, 2021

 

LAGOS, Nigeria – A staff of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Igabi Local Government, Mr. Sani Friday has debunked statement issued by the Kaduna State Government that 180 students of the school were rescued few minutes after the bandits invaded the school and made abductions.

The students were abducted from their general accommodation facility on Thursday night, March 11, 2021

Mr. Sani Friday whose two daughters were also abducted during the incident said none of the students abducted by the bandits have neither been rescued nor released.

Recall that few hours after the kidnap incident at Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Security, Mr.   Samuel Aruwan issued a statement wherein he claimed that 180 students were rescued and that 30 students (the real students kidnapped) were still missing.

His statement: “The ministry of internal affairs and security on receiving a distress call, alerted the 1 Division, Nigerian Army and the Air Training Command of the Nigerian Air Force. Troops of the Nigerian Army immediately moved to the school and engaged the armed bandits accordingly.

“The troops successfully rescued 180 citizens,  42 female students, eight staff and 130 male students. However about 30 students, a mix of males and females are yet to be accounted for. Some of the rescued students were injured and currently receiving medical attention at a military facility”, he said.

Reacting to the development on Channels TV, Sani Friday queried the statement credited to the Kaduna Government and that the right language should be evacuation, adding that  that the military evacuated 180 students and did not rescue anybody.

According to him, the military did not rescue any body I think the language they should use is evacuate the remaining students”, he said, stressing that when the bandits invaded the school,  students were alerted and some of them went into hiding, adding that when the bandits kidnapped and left with the 30 students, those that went into hiding came out and that it is those that came out  from hiding that the military evacuated to Government House and reunited with the parents.

“What happened was that when the bandits came, some students were alerted and they went into hiding, after the bandits went with those they kidnapped the remaining students came out of hiding. These are the ones the military took to government and reunited with their parents”, he said.

Sani Friday said  parents of the kidnapped students are not sure that government is doing anything about their children  since they have heard nothing from Government. He said parents ought to be part of the team.

“If they don’t want to do it, the government has link with Sheik Gumi and the bandits, they should give it to us so that we can negotiate with them. We do not have money but there are Nigerians we can appeal to assist us in the rescue of our children”, he said.